Senate leaders rejected Tuesday calls for the establishment of a nuclear plant or the revival of the potentially-dangerous nuclear power plant in Limay, Bataan as the country, particularly Mindanao, is experiencing debilitating power brownouts.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Edgardo J. Angara however pressed for the tapping of the country’s alternative indigenous sources of power and energy to help address the problems of climate change, increasing fuel prices and rotating brownouts.

Angara and Pimentel, both former Senate Presidents, maintained that the government should put their limited resources on the alternative energy sources like solar, wind, sea wave, bio-mass, geothermal and bio-ethanol.

There are calls from some House of Representatives members for the establishment of nuclear power plants as they blamed the Department of Energy (DoE) for its short-sighted handling of the power sector.

Pimentel recalled that the Aquino administration decided not to operate the 620-megawat Bataan nuclear power plant after it was found out that it suffered from defects and that the site is on an earthquake zone.

“Let us not sacrifice the safety of our people. If a high-intensity earthquake occurs while the nuclear power plant is operating, even residents of Metro Manila will be in danger of being exposed to nuclear radiation,’’ he said.

Angara said that ‘’we should not, as a thinking nation, exclude the possibility that one day, nuclear power plant have been established in our country but right now, it’s going to be fought by people if a nuclear power plant is established and the memory of the Bataan nuclear power plant is still fresh in their memory.’’